In the world today, you are either “Pimping” yourself, your company, or your products OR you are focused on “Helping” others so they can be more successful. Be honest with yourself and take a good look at what you do as a business or an individual. With the introduction of Social Media in the world, everyone thinks this changed. It hasn’t. This has been going on throughout all of time. There are those that focus on “Helping” others and trying to make their lives better and there are those that focus on “Pimping” themselves to others to try and make themselves better.
Social Media didn’t change this rule, it just accelerated it for us. Now, whichever approach you take, it just gets shared faster, to a larger audience, and into groups you may never have been able to reach – but the approach you take is still the same. Ask yourself a simple question, “At the end of the day, do I sound more like a “commercial message” promoting me, my products/services, or do I sound like someone who cares about my audience and am trying to find ways to help their business grow?” It is that black or white – no gray area here.
However, there is one BIG DIFFERENCE today than what we experienced in the past, due to the rapid adoption of social media. Social Media is designed as a “PULL APPROACH” to helping you build more trusted relationships with your audience. If you aren’t relevant, interesting, thoughtful, compelling, insightful, or helpful, your audience has no reason to “PULL” your content/information to them – there are too many other places they can go to get it. Think about it…if all you do is “Pimp” your products/services, how is this truly “helping” your audience? It’s not. When is the last time you actually “forwarded” and shared an advertisement with someone else? What your audience wants is for you to show them how how to improve their business, connect with others that could help them grow, give them insights they might not have thought about before, etc. This is where the TRUE VALUE of social media lies.
So my challenge for all of us is to step back and look at what we do…Pimp or Help, promote or solve problems, broadcast or personalize. And the good (or bad) news is that our customers are right there to tell us which one we are doing by voting with their feet.
